The U.S. Attorney General issued two decisions, vacating harmful precedents from the Trump administration: Matter of A-B-, which adversely impacted asylum seekers fleeing gender- and gang-based violence, and Matter of L-E-A-, which harmed asylum seekers facing persecution because of their family.

The National Immigrant Justice Center’s (NIJC) executive director, Mary Meg McCarthy, stated the following in response: 

“Today’s news is a victory for asylum seekers who have fought tirelessly for the protection they deserve. This includes women who have fled horrific gender-based violence, children, and other asylum seekers who were at risk of persecution simply because they are part of a targeted family. We applaud the Attorney General’s long-awaited decisions. NIJC has been at the forefront of seeking justice on behalf of these brave asylum seekers, who intimately know that this news could not have come soon enough. 

“We hope that this is the first of many steps ahead in dismantling all anti-asylum policies that hurt asylum seekers’ fundamental rights. As we approach the 70th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, we urge the administration to do what no other administration has done to date: live up to the promise of providing due process and protection for all asylum seekers. This includes ending summary expulsions at the southern border and ending the use of expedited removal, an unnecessary and harmful policy that rushes asylum seekers through screenings that could result in their deportation.”